"Andy Hawkins" wrote in message
...
Hi,

In article ,
Bertie the wrote:
Yeah, it's the way to go if the other guys aren't ****s, especially in
your
part of the world where the costs are outrageous. Do you have to chip in
for things like rebuilds on top of that, or is that rate all inclusive?

There's usually a monthly payment that covers hangarage, insurance and
'routine' maintenance. Some groups also use this monthly payment to build
up
an engine fund for when the donkey needs to be replaced. However, some
groups *don't* do this, on the theory that the money is better in the
group
members accounts earning interest, than in the group account (better for
the
members that is).

It's something I always check when enquiring about a group though, whether
the monthly payment includes some sort of 'extra' as a contingency.

Back when I belonged to a club they really had their act together. The
monthly payment covered hangar, insurance, and some of the maintenance. So
your monthly dues covered all of the costs to keep the plane airworthy if it
flew 0 hours per year. The hourly rate included all of the costs associated
with operating the plane, including an engine fund, a prop fund, and a
general maintenance fund. The fixed costs just covered what a "basic"
annual would cost.

They also charged a wet rate that changed each month if the price of fuel
changed on the field. If you refueled somewhere else, they only reimbursed
at up to the home field rate. Paying a wet rate actually worked out better
because you didn't have to worry about someone else shorting you on fuel and
if you brought the plane back after the FBO closed, it was no big deal.

The problem with throwing "extra" into the monthly rate as a contingency is
it means everyone pays that equally, but it's really those who put the most
time on the plane who should be paying more if the plane breaks. Putting
the "contingency" on the hourly rate works out to be a bit more fair.

The biggest problem I had with the club environment is sometimes it's hard
to get people to go along with making improvements to the plane. If you
want something like an HSI or a nice autopilot, but most of the members are
VFR only, you can forget it.